Attacks on “healthcare facilities offering sexual and reproductive healthcare services have impacted about 540,000 women and girls of reproductive age in Gaza,” the report said.
Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva, in a lengthy rebuttal in response to the commission’s report, said the Israeli military had “concrete directives, procedures, orders, and policies” that prevented the kind of misconduct the report described, adding that allegations of sexual violence were investigated in line with international norms.
Earlier this month, during a tenuous ceasefire in Gaza, Israel halted aid deliveries and cut electricity to a desalination plant in the enclave, saying the move was intended to pressure Hamas into accepting an extension of the recent ceasefire and to release the dozens of hostages the militant group still holds. Aid agencies have called for an immediate resumption of relief supplies, warning of further hardship for Palestinian civilians after nearly a year and a half of war.
“Israel’s decision to suspend all aid and goods from entering Gaza is already depriving families of food and medicine. Over the last week the costs of essential goods in the market, including produce, flour, and oil, has more than doubled,” Kate Phillips-Barrasso of the humanitarian aid group Mercy Corps said in a statement on Thursday.
“Gaza cannot afford a return to war,” she said. “Millions of lives are at stake.”
The Washington Post
National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line: 1800 737 732. Crisis support can be found at Lifeline (13 11 14), the Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467) and beyondblue (1300 22 4636).